The Canadiens have (by far) the youngest team in the NHL

Dose
Crédit:

The Canadiens have been rebuilding for some time now. Over the past few years, they’ve pulled out all the stops to bring in young talent… and the club now has some excellent young players.

In addition to Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Kaiden Guhle, who were already there before the arrival of Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton, guys like Juraj Slafkovský, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov have been added to the group. And that’s not counting prospects like David Reinbacher, Michael Hage and Jacob Fowler, who will arrive eventually.

And once again this summer, the club has been rejuvenated. Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia and David Savard left, while Noah Dobson (25) and Zachary Bolduc (22) joined the group.

This means that the Habs, who were already among the league’s youngest teams last year, will be even younger this year. And according to NHL Rosters, Montreal’s roster is the youngest in the entire league…

And it’s not even close: there’s almost a full year’s difference between the average age of the Habs players (25.75) and those of the next youngest team, the Sabres (26.51).

Of course, it’s possible that all this could change between now and the start of the campaign (perhaps the Habs will add 27-year-old Jordan Kyrou or an experienced left-handed center), but all indications are that the Canadiens will still be in first place when the season kicks off.

And that makes sense, after all, because if nothing changes, the Habs will only have three thirty-somethings on their roster: Brendan Gallagher (33), Josh Anderson (31) and Mike Matheson (31). Behind them, Jake Evans and Samuel Blais are both 29, while Samuel Montembeault and Alexandre Carrier are 28.

In a context where the team is still at the height of its reconstruction, this wouldn’t be a problem at all. That said, having seen the Habs to the playoffs last year, there are aspirations to see the club back there next year… and it makes you wonder if the team won’t be too young to make it.

The good news is that many of these youngsters already have plenty of experience… but when times are tough, having veterans to lean on is worth its weight in gold.

Nick Suzuki, who will be 26 at the start of the season, will have to lead a very young team, and he’ll need to be able to rely on Gallagher and Matheson, his two assistants.

It’ll be a big challenge, but there are some good young veterans in the dressing room despite it all. It remains to be seen whether the loss of a guy like David Savard will hurt the dressing room, that said.

Overtime

– Speaking of departed veterans.

– Alex Belzile turned down offers to return to the Habs. [La Presse]

– Indeed.

– Still.